As we prepare for another Maine winter, we know that a large portion of many Mainers’ incomes will go towards keeping their homes and their families warm over the next few months. It seems that heating costs continue to rise each year, and these costs can present families with an impossible choice between heating their homes, buying medicine, or even putting food on the table. Thankfully, support programs such as the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) are there to help families in Maine and across the country who are in need.

LIHEAP is the main federal program that helps low-income households and seniors with their energy bills, providing critical energy assistance to help keep people warm during the winter and cool during the summer. As of 2014, the program served as a vital lifeline for nearly 50,000 households in Maine, allowing some of our most vulnerable citizens to stay warm during the cold winter months while still being able to make ends meet.

Along with the heating assistance it provides, LIHEAP also helps to fund low-cost residential weatherization efforts and other home energy repairs. These initiatives help families to increase energy efficiency and lower their energy costs over the long-term.  This approach is very similar to another program, the Weatherization Assistance Program (WAP), which also helps low-income households to lower their energy costs by making their homes more energy efficient. Together, these programs provide a path forward that can help Maine families plan ahead and better manage the difficulties of high energy costs.

LIHEAP and WAP have proven to be some of our most effective federal programs, and as more and more people struggle to heat their homes, it’s up to those of us in Congress to make sure these lifelines have robust support. That’s why I recently joined my colleague and friend, Senator Susan Collins, in sending a letter to the Obama Administration urging them to release LIHEAP funds as soon as possible, and a few weeks later, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced that Maine will receive more than $34 million in LIHEAP funding. And just this week, Senator Collins and I again partnered on a letter to Congressional appropriators asking them to increase funding for both of these programs.

High energy prices are a persistent problem for many in Maine, which is why it’s so important that we maintain the strong home heating safety net that can make all the difference for families struggling to make ends meet. I will continue my work to make sure that programs like LIHEAP get the support they deserve, and that our most vulnerable citizens aren’t left out in the cold.